Last edit by: SingaporeDon
Every forum on Flyertalk has a personality. A forum gains a personality through user input over time, and Lifemiles is a very definitive example of how users have developed a unique community.
While Flyertalk boards actively encourage sharing of info, the Lifemiles community has developed and thrived via obscuring of certain data elements. It may not be easy for new participants to break through the codes and gain knowledge of the program's quirks, but the overall board community has adopted this unique approach. And frankly, that is not going to change overnight.
If a FT member wants to participate on this board, then they will need to respect other users. Hence, posts that run counter to this community's standards, will be removed.
While Flyertalk boards actively encourage sharing of info, the Lifemiles community has developed and thrived via obscuring of certain data elements. It may not be easy for new participants to break through the codes and gain knowledge of the program's quirks, but the overall board community has adopted this unique approach. And frankly, that is not going to change overnight.
If a FT member wants to participate on this board, then they will need to respect other users. Hence, posts that run counter to this community's standards, will be removed.
C1 North America
C1.5 Caribbean, Bermuda
C2 Europe
C2.5 Middle East
C3 Asia
C4 South America
C5 Africa
C6 Oceania
2X, 3X: in the context of this LifeMiles thread, 2X and 3X refer to any 2nd and 3rd legs of a one-way award ticket.
LifeMiles' Star Alliance Award Chart
LifeMiles' old Star Alliance Award Chart (before Oct 15 2014) // Table of changes
Cash & Miles redemptions: the price per mile purchased during award booking varies significantly depending on how many miles are purchased. The "sweet spots" are between 38% and 58% of the total mileage required, where miles are purchased for 1.5 cents. See here for some examples.
Beware of Cabotage: LifeMiles has been known to issue tickets that constitute Cabotage, and at least one instance of denied boarding has been reported, stranding the passenger. An easily-seen example is travel on Copa from LAX to SJU (via PTY).
Understand Cabotage: Departing country 1, transiting country 2, returning to country 1 (no stopping) *is* cabotage (example: depart JFK, connect in YYZ to return to ORD, or depart Miami, connect in Bogota, return to San Francisco). On the other hand, departing country 1, going to completely unrelated country 2, and ending up in country 3, is not cabotage. So if you fly JFK-JNB-ZRH, for instance, this is completely not cabotage.
Availability: Seeing availability for *A award seats elsewhere is no guarantee they are accessible on Lifemiles. For instance award space shown on ANA often is not accessible on Lifemiles. Similarly, finding award space on single legs doesn't mean you'll get award space on the combined itinerary. And no, there is no way to overcome that.
Screenshot Method
Send email to [email protected] with attached screenshots on Lifemiles website of each individual leg showing availability. Also, screenshot showing no availability as one booking. Include passenger names, gender and DOB and copy of passenger passport. They will either call you for payment or email the itinerary and give you 3 days to call up and make payment by CC.
NOTE: This previous thread has been closed; it can be read here LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it)
LM F and J routes (and the occasional trick-it) Rebooted v2.0
#2821
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
i decided to let it go and not risk shedding light on my other reservations.
I won’t discuss what these tickets are!
#2822
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: NH, JL, SQ
Posts: 164
I’m concerned that calling will not only flag this reservation for inspection of the “mileage discount”, but they might inspect a couple of other ticketed reservations I have with similar discounts. I would suffer some damage/ they might patch the loophole.
i decided to let it go and not risk shedding light on my other reservations.
I won’t discuss what these tickets are!
slightly tangential, but would flying these sort of "discounted" routes piss off the operating carrier(s) i wonder?
#2823
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: Hyatt Lifetime Globalist, SQ PPS Solitaire
Posts: 3,574
No. The operating carrier gets paid a fixed amount from Avianca. How much Aviance is getting from Lifemiles members is a different story. As long as overall Lifemiles is making more cash from selling miles than Aviance has to settle flights for, your "discounted" routes don't bring down the whole program.
#2824
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
On the off case that there is an "unusually high volume of tickets" for a specific route where LM seems to be bleeidng cash (paying more than they expected), then LM might be inclined to inspect the problem and resolve it. I speculate that this is what happened to the ex. Australia pricing being higher.
But generally, as @SMK77 said, LM seems to be making more money ouf of the program, and isn't driven to devalue/close the loopholes.
An operating carriers might flag Avianca tickets (202-) in the rare cases that there is an "unusually high volume of strange routing tickets" for a specific route.
The GUM route on UA is a little differently (long story not remembered fondly by many on this forum), but I speculate the KHV route on OZ died this way.
So, operating carriers generally dont care as long as it is ticketed and "OK to fly" status.
But generally, as @SMK77 said, LM seems to be making more money ouf of the program, and isn't driven to devalue/close the loopholes.
An operating carriers might flag Avianca tickets (202-) in the rare cases that there is an "unusually high volume of strange routing tickets" for a specific route.
The GUM route on UA is a little differently (long story not remembered fondly by many on this forum), but I speculate the KHV route on OZ died this way.
So, operating carriers generally dont care as long as it is ticketed and "OK to fly" status.
#2825
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: UA, QF, VS, AA, US, HH, SPG
Posts: 974
A question for the experts - LM does not show any availability for AI (SYD-DEL) even when other airlines show award availability. LM does show AI awards on other routes so it's not just an AI technical issue. I've tried the "usual" workarounds - like setting the airline from 'smart search' to AI - fiddling with the departure time, but cannot think of any other tricks. I have not tried calling as I understand that this would not help (it's not that urgent as I have an alternate routing on SQ which requires an overnight flight from SIN to DEL - this was booked with SQ points not LM).
#2828
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
Well, AI out of SYD is non-existent. No tricks I tried would work ( including married segments etc.).
You could chose TG, since F class is available out of SYD on March 6th, or try calling in to explain your situation (um, why you must fly Air India !).
Availability for 1 person is as follows:
[KVS Tool 8.7.7/Diamond - Awards/AC-StarAlliance/CA-Auto]
You could chose TG, since F class is available out of SYD on March 6th, or try calling in to explain your situation (um, why you must fly Air India !).
Availability for 1 person is as follows:
[KVS Tool 8.7.7/Diamond - Awards/AC-StarAlliance/CA-Auto]
Code:
SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith NS AU [YSSY] DEL Delhi Indira Gandhi Intl IN [VIDP] TUE 06 Mar 2018 1 Seat Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Award Availability --------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------------ AI 301 SYD 10:45 DEL 17:50 788 0 CS+ YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 FS+ YS+ -> TG 315 BKK 20:00 DEL 23:00 773 0 CS+ YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 FS+ YS+ -> AI 333 BKK 08:50 +1 DEL 12:05 +1 788 0 CS+ YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 FS+ YS+ -> TG 331 BKK 23:25 DEL 02:20 +1 787 0 YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 YS+ -> AI 335 BKK 21:05 DEL 00:25 +1 32B 0 YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 YS+ -> AI 331 BKK 20:30 BOM 23:15 788 0 YS+ -> AI 864 BOM 07:00 +1 DEL 09:05 +1 32B 0 YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 YS+ -> TG 329 BKK 22:10 HYD 00:25 +1 777 0 YS+ -> AI 559 HYD 06:40 +1 DEL 08:50 +1 321 0 YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 YS+ -> TG 337 BKK 22:25 MAA 00:30 +1 777 0 YS+ -> AI 440 MAA 06:10 +1 DEL 08:55 +1 321 0 YS+ TG 476 SYD 10:00 BKK 15:25 747 0 YS+ -> SQ 983 BKK 20:00 SIN 23:30 333 0 CS+ -> SQ 402 SIN 02:35 +1 DEL 05:55 +1 772 0 CS+
#2829
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: UA, QF, VS, AA, US, HH, SPG
Posts: 974
Well, AI out of SYD is non-existent. No tricks I tried would work ( including married segments etc.).
You could chose TG, since F class is available out of SYD on March 6th, or try calling in to explain your situation (um, why you must fly Air India !).
Availability for 1 person is as follows:
You could chose TG, since F class is available out of SYD on March 6th, or try calling in to explain your situation (um, why you must fly Air India !).
Availability for 1 person is as follows:
A tip for ex-SYD flyers - SQ has new routing SYD-CBR-SIN - it's available in J on LM - times not ideal.
#2832
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
the new interface locked down most old discounts, so it really depends on when you found the discounts.
some discounts still exist in the new interface.
#2833
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: NH, JL, SQ
Posts: 164
a couple of weeks ago on the new interface, oh well its gone i can't do anything about it. but it kinda feels to me like they are actively monitoring searches and shutting them down
#2834
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,319
Ok, so not quite on topic - but:
1. how do you know which interface is old and which is new?
2. is multi-city booking working in any of these? For me the interface will only let one airport code to be entered in multi-city mode, and then the rest are ignored.
1. how do you know which interface is old and which is new?
2. is multi-city booking working in any of these? For me the interface will only let one airport code to be entered in multi-city mode, and then the rest are ignored.
#2835
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
currently there is only one interface; the new one.
multicity booking works, but only as a sum of individual segments. You have to end up at your origin airport.poor use of miles.
E.g. JFK-FRA-FCO-MUC-JFK,
all four flights will be charged separately,
(it is not priced as a return JFK-FCO via FRA and MUC).